

ST. LUIZ. 



271 



will not bear comparison with that of Pernam- 

 buco. It is still in an infant state ; there still 

 exist wild Indians, and the plantations upon 

 the main land are still in danger from their at- 

 tacks. The proportion of free persons is much 

 smaller ; the slaves very much preponderate, but 

 this class can of necessity use but little of what 

 is in any degree expensive, of what in such a 

 climate is mere luxury. There exists at. St. 

 Luiz a great inequality of ranks; the chief 

 riches of the place are in the hands of a few 

 men who possess landed property to a great ex- 

 tent, numerous gangs of slaves, and are also 

 merchants. The wealth of these persons and 

 the characters of some of the individuals who 

 enjoy it, have raised them to great weight and 

 consequence, and indeed one Governor knows 

 to his cost that without their concurrence it 

 was useless to attempt the introduction of the 

 innovations proposed, and impossible to trample 

 long upon the rest of the community. But the 

 great inequality of rank bespeaks the advance- 

 ment of this place to have been less rapid than 

 that of other settlements further south, where 

 the society is more amalgamated, and property 

 more divided. As a port of trade with Europe, 

 St. Luiz may be accounted the fourth establish- 

 ment upon the coast of Brazil in point of import- 

 ance, giving precedence to Rio de Janeiro, 

 Bahia, and Pernambuco. 



